Let me start with a disclosure: a respected friend is running for the Conservative Party of BC in my riding, West Vancouver-Sea to Sky. I write this column about Yuri Fulmer not in my role as a journalist and media executive over more than four decades, but as a voter who has witnessed politics up close, worries we are not attracting nearly enough strong candidates, and believe he is the best choice in this provincial election for the riding.
I also teach ethics at UBC’s journalism school and have been an adjunct professor in the program for more than two decades, and only last week I was telling students that conflicts of interest are perplexing for people in my craft, because we at times have to cover those we know well. If you’re going to do so, I said, you have to declare your conflict so the audience can have proper context. I notice all too often that friends write about candidates without respecting the need to tell readers of these personal connections and experiences. So I want to take my own advice and be frank that I know Yuri.
With that lengthy preamble done, I watched the two all-candidates debates last week in Whistler and Squamish and drew some conclusions about his contestants. Both Jen Ford of the BC NDP and Jeremy Valeriote of the Greens have dedicated time and effort municipally to improve the quality of life, and their values appeared moored in the best spirit of public service, but the two events struck me as evidence that this election calls for a more seasoned leader with a broader understanding of what matters to those who answer the knock on the door during the campaign.
Yuri is one of British Columbia’s business success stories, someone who started as a teenager working the drive-thru at A&W to eventually own dozens of franchises and have equity in nearly 30 companies, including some in this riding. They are characterized as models of inclusion, of Indigenous reconciliation, of environmentalism, of food security, and of returning support to the community. His Fulmer Foundation is one of the province’s leading benefactors, and he is himself the worldwide chair of United Way, likely the best-known social non-profit on the continent. He serves—although he has not participated in activities beyond graduation ceremonies during the campaign—as chancellor at Capilano University. He is a proud father of two young children. And he is a member of the Order of British Columbia.
His outsized credentials aside, my business journalism background over the last decade informs my understanding from other leaders of his virtues as a highly regarded, principled and decent listener and decision-maker. He chose earlier this year to channel his enormous energy in the next chapter of his life into a more direct form of public service through the institution of provincial politics.
Today what matters is how to contend with our most significant challenges: the deteriorating health-care system, homeownership and rental affordability, the safety of streets, the lack of a prosperity plan, the unsustainable public financial picture, and climate change.
It was distressing to hear opponents claim the Conservatives deny climate change, want to cut billions from health-care, and don’t have an immediate housing affordability plan. I’ve studied the platform, asked questions about this for my own sake, and their rhetoric doesn’t add up. It is a severe distortion of what are necessary positions of nuance in today’s unfortunate black-and-white world disgraced by social media. Every campaign is worse than the last.
In studying and chronicling power for decades in Ottawa, Toronto and here, I’ve also seen the value to ridings of having prominent representation within government and opposition. These are the MLAs and MPs who get things done, who lead the public affairs discourse, and who can deliver change. If the Conservatives are elected Oct. 19, Yuri would be a respected and vital force for the riding in the government; if for some reason it forms opposition, he would be a leading voice as a watchdog. I don’t see either opponent offering that, and I am certain that a so-called “strategic vote” for the Greens would have no effect except to further marginalize a riding already at a disadvantage in Victoria.
I will admit my mind was made up at the outset, but nothing has shaken my view in the months of his candidacy that he is the smartest choice for the betterment of the riding and the province. I say this, conflicts of interest and all, as a voter.
Kirk LaPointe is a West Vancouver columnist who writes for Glacier Media
